Immigrants are foreign-born people and their families who enter the United
States and settle. This is a catch-all phrase that usually includes everybody
from the U.S-born children of foreigners to naturalized citizens to the
undocumented.

The Context

New York owes much of its growth and character to its traditional role as the
point of entry and settlement for immigrants from all over the world. The
city may now be experiencing the largest wave of immigration in its history,
with immigrants and their children making up to as much as 60 percent of the
city's population. Most of today's immigrants come from Latin America, the
Caribbean, Asia and the former Soviet Union and are, for the most part,
younger and darker than immigrants from the past. While the federal
government sets overall immigration policy, state and local policy directly
affects immigrants on a wide range of issues, from education to health care
to political representation.

The Reporter

An immigrant from Bangkok, Thailand, Chaleampon Ritthichai is the
editor of The Citizen.

Like many other undocumented immigrants, Tony Amadi often has to
weigh a difficult decision. Last year when his mother fell sick in
Nigeria, Amadi had to decide whether to stay and work in New York or
to leave and face the possibility of not being able to return to the
country. If he leaves the country, Amadi will be barred from entering
the United States for at least 10 years.

"I want to stay and make a living here," said Amadi who works as a
deliveryman.

Stories like Amadi's are quite common in immigrant communities.

"Undocumented immigrants are being penalized in inhumane ways -
through family separations, through the inability to organize and
stand up for their rights at their workplaces." said Chung-Wha Hong
of New York Immigration Coalition. "All the while we're using them to
do the hardest, dirtiest work."

In New York City there are over 400,000 undocumented immigrants. With
nation wide figures estimated at eight to ten million more, advocacy
groups have launched a campaign for general amnesty for illegal
immigrants.

The issue will be highlighted this month when 7,000 immigrant
advocates from all over the nation are expected to gather in
Washington, D.C. to rally for the legalization of undocumented
immigrants.

"Amnesty would be tremendously helpful in bringing immigrants out of
the shadows," said Omar Henriques, immigration campaign coordinator
for the
Service Employees International Union, which has started a postcard campaign in New
York City.

"We are going to deliver one million signed postcards petitioning
Congress and President Bush to make immigration reforms that will
allow hardworking, undocumented people to receive legal status," said
Henriques.

Prior to 9/11 President George W. Bush was keen on the idea of
amnesty, especially for
Mexican immigrants,
who account for nearly half of the country's undocumented immigrants.
But after the terrorist attacks last September, national security and
border patrol became the administration's top priority. The issue of
amnesty was picked up again by the Democrats this past spring when
House minority leader Dick Gephardt said he plans to introduce
legislation granting permanent resident status to illegal immigrants.

"We are pushing it this year so that the issue is kept alive during
elections," said Hong. "But we need to put together a bipartisan set
of people. So we don't want it to be used by just one party to say,
'We're better than the other party' and to use it to attack the other
party."

A political compromise between the two parties was struck the last
time the United States granted amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986.
In an exchange for amnesty, the conservative legislators with labor
backing were able to put in employer sanctions, making it more
difficult for undocumented immigrants to get jobs.

Although the amnesty was a big success in California and Texas, only
about 100,000 applicants were from New York. Nationwide only 1.6
million turned in the application -- it was expected that two million
out of the 3.9 million illegal immigrants would apply.

Lower-than-expected turnout prompted another attempt to push for
amnesty in 1996 but it failed without much debate. Now advocates
believe the situation is much different because the initiative is
supported by unions.

"The
AFL-CIO changed their position on
legalization of undocumented workers in 2000," said Henriques,
referring to one of the biggest coalitions of America's unions. "This
is a win-win situation. If you have bargaining power as a collective,
you are in a better position to fight for benefits."

But anti-immigration groups say that unions are looking for more
union members in the same way that politicians are looking for more
votes. More importantly, they claim, amnesty rewards lawbreakers and
encourages more illegal immigration to the Unites States.

"Amnesties always lead to more illegal immigrants," said Jack Martin
of
The Federation for American Immigration Reform. "We have a generous immigrant law that
allows people to come into the country legally. There's no reason
that we should tolerate those who do not respect our law."

Proponents of the amnesty argue that historically laws could be on
the wrong side, pointing to Prohibition and Jim Crow laws. "If you
have a bad law, a lot of people are just going to keep breaking it.
They want to just live, and do what they need to survive," Hong said.
"We need to fix our laws, so that it allows people who need to come
here to come here legally."

But until the law is fixed, undocumented immigrants like Tony Amadi
will live in a predicament. With the money he sent for medical
expense, Amadi's mother is in good condition but there is always a
constant worry on his mind about what's to come.

The New York City Mayor's Office Of Immigrant Affairs and Language Services, assists immigrants in a range of
services and information. Here you can link to information about, for
example, the New York Police Department New Immigrant Unit, where specially
trained police officers conduct sensitivity training in the precincts and at
the police academy, lecture at meetings of immigrant groups and work with the
ethnic media. (212) 374-5112

Citizenship NYC, a city program,
assists immigrant recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and
federal food stamps to become citizens. (888) 374-5100

Glossary of words and phrases
used regarding immigrants and immigration, provided by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.

Local, general:

The New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella advocacy
organization for approximately 200 groups in New York State that work with
newcomers to our country -- immigrants, refugees, and asylees. The site, which
focuses on a civic campaign from last year to get immigrants involved in
politics, has not been kept up to date. But the Coalition (which is where I
work) will have a full site later in the year.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society - At 120 years old, HIAS is
the oldest international migration and refugee resettlement agency in the
United States. Its site contains some legislative updates; some information
on the process of obtaining permanent residence and citizenship.